Corn-harvester.



Patented De c.l6, |902; F. M. WVIDEBMAN G. I. W. WRIGHT.

CORN HARVESTER.

(Application le'd Feb. 16, 1901.)

4 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

NVENTORS Adame] WITNESSES Patented Dec. I6, |902. F. M. WIDERMAN & l. W.WRIGHT.

00B" HARVESTER. (ppueuon mea ren 1e, 1901.)

4 Sheets-Sheet 3.

(No Model.)

` forward end and a semicircular brace f3 between rear iron 2 and iron2a to form the frame of our improved harvester,which is supported by awheel4 at each side and a caster-Wheel 5 5o centrally between the frontends of the frame. l An upright tubular standard 6 is connected MAN, ofCatonsville, inthe county of Baltimore, and IRVIN W. WRIGHL of Glenelg,in the county of Howardtate of Maryland,have invented certainfnew anduseful Improvements in Corn-Harvesters; and we do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains tomakeand use the same.

harvester, Athe object ofthe invention being to provide improved meansforcutting the stalks, improvedmeans for holding them in position to bebound in a shock, and improved mechanism for dropping the shock.

support for the cornstalks, which can be adjusted to hold the stalks ina vertical position regardless of the incline of the vehicle-platform.

vester with improved mechanism for drawing the shock into compact formfor binding.

consists in certain novel features of construction and combinations andarrangements of parts, as will be more fully hereinafter described, andpointed out in the claims.

angle-irons, connected by transverse irons 2 at each end and atransverse iron 2a near the y UNITE STATES .i

FRANCISM. WIDERMAN, OF CATONSVILLE, AND IRVIN W. WRIGHT, 'OF GLENELG,MARYLAND.

CORN-HARVESTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Lettere raient' Numdam, dated December 16,1902. lippueetion nea retmry 1s, 1901. seein No. 47,639. die model.)

Be it known thatwe', FRANCIS M. WIDER- Our invention relates to animproved corn- A further object is to provide an improved A furtherobject is to provide a corn-har- `With these objects `in view theinvention ln the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is Fig. Bis a Fig.`

Fig.

1 represents a series of parallel longitudinal to the transverse iron2nM by a bolt 7 and nut 8, as clearly shown in Fig. 8, the opening inthe iron 2 for the passage of bolt 7 being of sufficient size and themetal around the same beveled to permit of a slight hinged movement ofthe standard in any direction. The standard 6 is supported about midwaybetween its ends in a bracket 9, having a threaded sleeve 10 therein,inwhich is mounted a screw l1,sup ported at its ends by inclined bars 12,secured to the bar 2-,and a crank 13 is provided on one end of the screw11 to turn the latter and adjust the standard 6 laterally, and anotherscrew 14, supported by an upright rod 14a at the front end of the frame,is swiveled into rhe bracket9 and provided with a crank-arm 15 to turnthe screw and adjust standard 6 longitudina'lly of the frame, and itwill be seen that by adjusting screws 11 and 14 the standard 6 can besupported in a vertical position regardless of the incline of the groundon which the machine is being operated.

A sleeve 16 is adjustably secured near the upper end of rod 6 by aset-screw 16a and carries another sleeve 17, preferably integraltherewith and disposed at an angle thereto, or, in other words,approximately parallel with the platform'of the machine when adj ustedto lie transversely of the machine and is provided with a set-screw 18to secure a stalk-supporting frame 1da in place, which latter comprisesa horizontal rod 19, carrying at its rear end a semicircular rod 2O toform a support for the corn, so as to dispose the same inL circularformation to form the shock,

as will more fully hereinafter appear. A hook 21 is provided on the rearend of rod 19 for the reception of a rope` or cable stay or brace 22,secured to the respective sides of the platform, so as to steady andbrace the supporting-frame 18a, but which can be readily removed fromthe hook when the shock is to be dropped. l

The platform of our improved machine lcomprises a series of .hingedsections 23,' arranged, preferably, in pairs, two sections having theirhinged edges disposed beneath each intermediate longitudinal iron 1 andeach section comprising a board 24e, having one long edge madeconcavefor the reception of a tube or pipe 25, and bolts 26 are passed throughICO the board and pipe to secure them together, as clearly shown in Fig.9. The pipes 25 project beyond the boards at their forward ends and aresupported in bearings 27 and 28, secured to the lower faces of forwardirons 2 and 2a, and the hinged sections 23 are supported at theirforward and rear ends when in their closed position by transverse bars29, carried by L-shaped arms 30, secured on shafts 31, the shaft 3l atthe forward end of the machine mounted in bearings 31u, secured to iron2, and the shaft 31 at the rear end of the machine supported by a hingedframe 4l, as will be hereinafter explained. One arm 30 at each end ofthe frame of the machine-is provided with an upwardly and outwardlyprojecting lever 32, and a rod 33 is pivotally connected to the lever 32at the forward end of the machine and adapted to be disposed in thebifurcated upper end of the lever 32 at the rear end of the machine andheld therein by a pin 34, as shown, and a beveled shoulder orenlargement 35 (see Fig. 6) is provided on rod 33, against which therear lever 32 abuts, to hold the same in its outward position tomaintain the arms 30 beneath the closed sections 23. When it is desiredto drop the hinged sections, it is simply necessary to disengage the rod33 from rear lever 32 by withdrawing the pin 34, when the weight of theplatform and the shock thereon will cause the rod 33 to rise byengagement of the beveled shoulder 35 with the lever 32 and force thehinged sections downward and permit the shock to drop, and beveled bars36 are provided on the upper face of irons 1 to deliect the stalks andcompel the shock to drop to the ground. In order to raise the hingedsections to their closed position, we provide each pipe 25 with an arm37, projecting at right angles thereto and at an acute angle to thehinged section carried by the pipe, the arm 37 on every other oralternateV section being disposed parallel and connected at their freeends to rods 38 and 39, respectively, each of which is provided with alever 40 for moving the rods laterally, and hence turning the pipes 25,through the medium of arms 37, to raise the hinged sections to theirclosed position, when the bars 29 are moved into position beneath therespective ends thereof, as above explained.

The shaft 3l at the rear end of the machine is supported in a frame 4l,(of which the rear transverse bar 2 forms a part,) hinged at one side ofthe machine and connected at its other end by a hinged bolt 42, having aset-nut 43 thereon to lock the frame 41 in place, but

which can be readily swung out of engagement with the frame 4l andpermit it to be swung on its hinge, and hence be out of the way of thedropped shock.

To the front end of the machine, at each side thereof, acutter-supporting casting 44 is provided, which latter are made witheyes or loops 45, supported on rods 46, carried by perforated lugs 47 onthe forward iron 2, so as to permit the casting and mechanism carriedthereby to be folded back on the frame and out of harms way when the'machine is being moved from place to place and also permit of lateraladjustment of the casting and cutter carried thereby, as will now beexplained. Each casting is made with slots 48, through which projectthreaded bolts 49, carried by iron 2, and set-nuts 50 are mounted onsaid bolts and adapted to be forced against the casting to lock the sameagainst accidental displacement, but which can be loosened to permit thecasting to be adjusted slightly or folded back on the frame out of theway. Each. castingis made with a bearing for a vertical shaft 51, on thelower end of which is secured a rotary cutter 52, and a protector isprovided for said cutter comprising a series of fingers 53, bent over attheir outer ends to inclose the cutter and present a blunt edge to thecornstalks, so asto deiiect the same into the 'cutter and not knock themdown, as would be the case were the fingers straight and pointed, andthese curved fingers also serve to protect the cutter from rocks and thelike, as will be readily understood. Beveled gears 54 are secured onshafts 5l and mesh with beveled gears 55 on shafts 56, supported inbearings in the castings and carrying sprocket-wheels 57, which latterare connected with sprocket-wheels 58 by sprocketchains 59. Thesprocket-wheels 58 are secured on short shafts 60 at the sides of themachine, and said shafts carry gears 61, meshing with internalgear-teeth on the wheels 4, so that the rotation of said' wheels bytheforward movement of the machine will operate the cutters.

The frame is provided at each side with downwardlyand outwardlyprojecting diverging guide-arms 61 to guide the stalks to the cutter,and said arms are connected to uprights 62 on the frame by rods 63, asshown, the uprights 62 serving as handholds for the operators or bracesfor their bodies while operating the machine.

Our machine is of such light draft that a single draft-animal is allthat is necessary to draw the same, and hence we provide shafts 64,hinged to the frame, as shown, so as to permit the same to be swung upwhen not in use.

The operation of our improvements is as follows: A man stands at eachside of the machine and grasps the stalks as they are cut by the cutters52 and passes them back against the supporting-frame 18a until asufficient number of stalks have been gathered to make a shock, when themachine is stopped. The shock will then be bound, the supportingframe18a removed from the shock by either removing the rod 18a from thesleeve 17 or removing the sleeve 16 from the standard 6, the stay-rope22 released therefrom and the hinged sections 23 of the platform droppedby releasing rod 33 from rear lever 32, the weight of the shock andhinged sections serv IOO IIO

4ing to force the'latter to fall. The rear hinged position and securedby the bolt 42 and the levers 40 operated to raise the hinged sections23. The rod 33 is then secured in position to hold arms beneath thehinged sections and the latter in their closed position.

The corn-supporting frame 18a is then secured in position and themachine is ready to gather another shock.

Various slight changes might be resorted to in the general form andarrangement of the several parts described without departing from thespirit and scope of our invention, and hence we would havegit understoodthat we do not wishtto limit ourselvesl to the precise details setforth, but consider ourselves 'at liberty to make such slight changesand alterations as fairly fall within the spirit and `scope of ourinvention.

Having fully described our invention, what we claim as new, and desireto secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a corn-harvester,the combination with `1 `a platform,of a standardsupported loosely at its lower end in said platform, a stalk-supfsbporting frame carried by the standard, and means for adjusting the upperend of the standard both longitudinally and transversely of theplatform.

2. In a corn-harvester,the combination with a platform, of a standardsupported loosely at its lower end in said platform, a stalk-supportingframe carried by the standard, a bracket supporting the standard betweenits ends and screws for adjustingthe bracket both longitudinally andtransversely of the platform.

3.` In a corn-harvester,the combination with a platform, of a standardsupported loosely atits lower end in said platform, a stalk-supportingframe removably secured to `the standard, and comprising a longitudinalrod having asemicircular rod at its rear end, and a rope or cable stayat the rear` end of the platform connected to the frame.

4. In a corn-harvester, the combination of a frame, a series 0f hingedsections connected to said frame and adapted when in their closed`position to form a platform forI the shock, a shaft at each end of theframe, L- shaped arms on each of said shafts, bars connecting the freeends of the arms and means for holding the arms in position to disposethe bars against the under face of the platform when the hinged sectionsthereof are in their closed position.

5. In acorn-harvester, the combination of a frame, a series of hingedsections connected to said frame and adapted when in their closedposition to form a platform for the shock, a shaft at each end of theframe, L- shaped arms on each of said shafts, bars connecting the freeends of the arms,an upwardlyprojecting lever on one arm at each end ofthe frame, a rod pivotally connected to one lever and adapted to beremovably connected to the other, to hold the shafts and arms inposition to dispose the bars against the hinged sections when the latterare in their closed position.

` 6. In a corn-harvester, the combination of a frame, a casting hingedto the forward end the hinge-line being at right angles to thelongitudinal axis thereof and adjustable laterally on the hinges and acutter carriedby said casting.

7. In a corn-harvester,the combination with a frame, a casting at theforward end thereof, hinges connecting said casting with the forward endof the frame the hinge-line being at Iright angles to the longitudinalaxis thereof

